I suspect that \u201cpushy\u201d women do an enormous amount of the work that keeps the world going. One very popular pushy woman is Baroness Thatcher of Grantham, the first woman to serve as Britain\u2019s Prime Minister. In the late 1980s, Mrs. Thatcher was often criticized for being \u201cschool-marmish\u201d and \u201chectoring.\u201d But if she were a man, wouldn\u2019t they admire her for being decisive and forceful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today\u2019s gospel reading is about a woman most of us would probably characterize as pushy, and perhaps aggressive and obnoxious, too. Mark tells us that Jesus \u201cwent away to the region of Tyre.\u201d Tyre was in or near present-day Lebanon, an area occupied mostly by Gentiles. Although he tried to keep his visit there a secret, word somehow got out, and a woman of the region came to Jesus seeking help for her daughter who was possessed by a demon. Mark clearly identifies her as \u201ca Gentile of Syrophoenician origin.\u201d Mark does not tell us how often she came to Jesus with her request or what she said initially, but Matthew tells us that she cried out, \u201cHave mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David.\u201d Matthew also implies that she came to Jesus at least twice and to his disciples at least once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermons on this text generally spend most of their time trying to justify Jesus\u2019 grossly insulting rebuke to this nameless woman: \u201cLet the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children\u2019s bread and throw it to the dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s consider two things about this comment. First, Jesus does not need us to defend him, and second, even if we wanted to defend Jesus, there\u2019s no way to do it. However, it\u2019s worth noting that God became incarnate not only in a person but also in a culture, and here Jesus gives voice to two of the most fundamental prejudices of his culture: Jewish men did not speak to or allow themselves to be spoken to by women in public, and observant Jews tried to minimize their contact with Gentiles. First Corinthians 14:34 expresses the standard attitude of Jewish men toward women in public places: they are to be \u201csilent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By far the most interesting person in this story is the nameless Gentile woman who didn\u2019t mind being pushy and who cleverly turned Jesus\u2019 insult to her own advantage. There are two ways to look at her. First, let\u2019s try to see her as Jesus and the disciples must have seen her: unpleasant, annoying, and impossible to get rid of. She wouldn\u2019t take \u201cno\u201d for an answer. \u201cDon\u2019t call us; we\u2019ll call you\u201d would not have satisfied her. If you put her on hold and hoped she would eventually hang up, you would have been disappointed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, let\u2019s try to see her more objectively. Sometimes being pushy, aggressive, and annoying is the only way to get things done. Sometimes in hindsight we can see that \u201cpushy,\u201d \u201caggressive,\u201d and \u201cannoying\u201d were just other words for \u201ccourage,\u201d \u201cpersistence,\u201d and \u201cdetermination,\u201d and that is we ought to see the woman in today\u2019s Gospel reading. She defied social conventions. In Jesus\u2019 world, women were expected to be more or less invisible and silent, but in spite of any number of spoken and unspoken cultural assumptions, the Syrophoenician woman would not be silent and persisted in seeking healing for her daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another famous \u201cpushy\u201d woman was the late Rosa Parks. On her way home from work in Montgomery, Alabama, in December of 1955, Rosa Parks boarded a bus and sat in the last seat reserved for \u201ccolored people.\u201d When a white passenger boarded at the next stop, the bus driver demanded that Ms. Parks yield her seat to the white passenger. Parks refused and was arrested. But the simple act of refusing to give up her seat had a profound effect on history. It launched a boycott that brought Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to international prominence, and it was the beginning of the civil rights movement that did so much to secure basic human rights that had long been denied to African Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosa Parks\u2019 refusal to give up her seat may have had influence far beyond her time and country. In the waning days of the Soviet Union, reactionaries sought to reverse the process of democratization by overthrowing the Soviet leader, Gorbachev. During the tense days of the attempted coup the world watched as Moscow\u2019s mayor, Boris Yeltsin, literally stood up to tanks attempting to disperse the Soviet parliament. When asked what inspired him to face down tanks, Yeltsin said that he was inspired by Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement in Poland. When Walesa was asked what inspired him, he said that he had long admired Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.\u2019s, civil rights campaigns. When Dr. King was asked what inspired him, he said that he admired Rosa Parks\u2019 refusal to give up her seat. Is it possible that Rosa Parks\u2019 defiance of injustice helped bring down the Soviet Union?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s tempting to shout \u201chooray\u201d for pushy women, but being pushy is not enough. You also need to know whom to push. The Syrophoenician woman went to the one person who could command the demonic spirit to leave her daughter and restore the girl to soundness of mind: Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story shows Jesus in the worst possible light, so why did Mark include it? Maybe it\u2019s in the Gospel to encourage us. Like the Syrophoenician woman, we often come to Jesus with desperate needs: we\u2019re out of work and need a job, or someone we love is dying, or someone has just shattered our heart. Like the nameless woman, we may pray to God day and night but find no relief. But more than likely, we pray about something once or twice and then forget about it. It\u2019s difficult to explain why God hears and answers some prayers and seems to leave others unanswered. But God seems to expect us to be persistent in our prayers (maybe even a little pushy) and come back again and again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final thing we should notice about the Syrophoenician woman is the nature of her request. Begging Jesus to free her daughter from demonic power was no idle, off-hand petition. The woman was not asking for a trip to Cancun or a new car: she was seeking justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thank goodness for pushy women and sometimes pushy men. Thank goodness for people who defy social conventions in their quest to right wrong. But above all, thank goodness for those who kneel at Jesus\u2019 feet day and night and pray without ceasing. Thank goodness for women and men who seek justice and will not accept \u201cno\u201d for an answer \u2013 even when the \u201cno\u201d seems to come from God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sermon was written by the Rev. J. Barry Vaughn<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I suspect that \u201cpushy\u201d women do an enormous amount of the work that keeps the world going. One very popular pushy woman is Baroness Thatcher of Grantham, the first woman to serve as Britain\u2019s Prime Minister. In the late 1980s, Mrs. Thatcher was often criticized for being \u201cschool-marmish\u201d and \u201chectoring.\u201d But if she were a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,1953],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-511699","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-18b"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":1953,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":130,"label":"Proper 18B"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3477078,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511699\/revisions\/3477078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}